Sewed sanitary article and method of manufacture thereof



p 3. 1940. C. G. JOA 2,213,431

SEWED SANiTARY ARTICLE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF Filed inch 31, 1938 INVENTOR CURT G. JQA

' Y ATTORNEYS Patented 3, i940 UNITED STATES sswnn SANITARY ARTICLE AND METHOD OF. MANUFACTURE manor 7 Curt G. Joa, Sheboygan Falls, Wis., asslgnor to Curt G. 101, Inc., Sheboygan Falls, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application March 31', 1938, Serial- No. 199,125.

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in sewed sanitary articles and methods of manufacture thereof.

Whilethe invention as herein described has particular reference to sanitary napkins, it will be understood that it is also applicable to diapers or to any other device in which there is a rip thread or seam to which access is desired for opening a wrapper, as for disposaLin the case 10 of sanitary napkins. I

It is the primary object of the invention to facilitate access to the thread or seam by which the wrapper is held in place. Taking sanitary napkins as an example, it is possible to make sanitary napkins by stitching gauze to constitute a continuous tubular wrapper in which the 'pads are spaced at appropriate intervals, the stitched wrapper later being severed between the pads and thus divided into individual sanitary napkins.

or seam is severed along with the wrapper and consequently there is none of this thread projecting to be readily grasped by the operator when it becomes desirable to remove wrapper. The present invention seeks 'to overcome this difiiculty by ensuring that 9. portionofthe thread will project to be grasped by, the operator.

More particularly stated, it is the purpose of the invention to' notch the wrapper at at least one end of each article, the draw thread or seam being extended across'the notch so that it will be exposed for manipulation. I

In order to provide such a notch in the gauze wrapper of a sanitary napkin and to assure the projection of the seam or thread, it is my further purpose preferably to stiffen the wrapping material somewhat at the point at which the notch is later to be provided, thereby facilitating a punching operation by which an aperture can be formed in the continuous wrapper before the wrapper is stitched and before it is severed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective illustrating In such a napkin the draw thread...

One method of sanitary napkin manufacture known to me involves the application of pads 3 at spaced intervals to a web of gauze, the folding of each pad longitudinally during its m'ovement with the gauze in order that the margins 5 of the gauze web may be brought together as shown at 4 in Fig. 1, the subsequent connection '01 such margins by a seam 5-which preferably takes the form of a chain stitch such that it may readily be pulled open by grasping one end 10 of the thread, the flattening of the pad to draw the wrapper-snugly about it and to pull the seam on to the face of the pad, and the severing of the continuous tubular wrapper to form the individual sanitary napkins. I 'have illustrated di- .16 agrammatically at 6 a sewing head for producing l the chain stitch seam,.and I have shown diagrammatically at I a shearing arrangementfor severing the gauze" between the pads to separatethe sanitary napkins. V r i 20 It will beunderstood that the severing operation oecursat predetermined intervals between which the pads are centered. At the same intervals, and likewise-in e d t the D Ii I applyto the superposed margins 40f the-gauze 25 wrapper .aspotof'stifiening material as indi-- Y cated at 8. I have illustrated a; brush 9 as-a diagrammatic indication of' a means for applying such material, although in actual" production other means would frequently be used,. The ma 30 terial preferred is ordinary paramn'waxwhich is sufliciently stifffor my. purposes and is never V theless' soft and yielding to the wearerof the completed article, For other. types of articles;

and other purposes various stiffening agents such as .glue, starch," shellac; rubber, etc), might ,be'

employed.-

ening material may be omitted.

I have illustrated diagrammatically at] 0 con cross section whioh'operateson' the seleeted'pon' tion of the ,wrappermargin to provide an opening 1 therein, preferably locatedywholly'. within thegboundaries'of'the wrapper Such an openingis' which holds the margin of the'wrappertogether is made continuous across the opening .and, as' previously indicated, the opening is {so located 0 intermediate the pads enfolded in, the wrapper I that when the wrapper is severed by. the shear I the cut will intersect the opening H leaving a notch or recess such as that shown at l2 in Fig.v

2, across which the thread constituting the seam 55 shown at H in Fig.1.- The draw thread or seam or draw string 5 extends and is fully exposed for grasping by the operator. The chain stitch used in a sanitary napkin, for example, is readily opened for disposal purposes by simply pulling the end. In some chain stitches a particular end of the thread must be pulled, and my improved construction is such that the end exposed in the notch or recess I2 is the end which should be grasped by the operator for opening up the wrapper.

I claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising the combination with a wrapped member, of a loose textile wrapper encasing said memberand having end portions projecting beyond said member,- and adraw string for opening said wrapper, one projecting end portion of said wrapper being provided with means for stiffening it and with an aperture in its stiffened portion into which a portion of said draw string projects and is exposed.

2. A sanitary napkin comprising the combination with a pad, of a gauze wrapper oftubular form encasing the pad and having its marginal portions folded thereon, a chain stitch separably connecting said marginal portions about the pad and substantially continuous from end to end of the wrapper beyond the pad, said wrapper being materially longer than the pad and being provided adjacent one of its projecting ends with a notch in said marginal portions across which said chain stitch extends substantions of tially to the end of the wrapper, the portion of the wrapper about said notch being provided with stiffening means adapted to render the location of the notch conspicuous.

3. A wrapping method which consists in encasing successive articlesin a wrapper, bringing por the wrapper together about the encased articles, providing openings in said wrapper portions at stated intervals, and stitching said wrapper portions and carrying the stitching across said opening.

4. A method of article wrapping which includes the advance of a wrapping web, the introduction at stated intervals of articles to be wrapped, drawing portions of the web together about such articles at a stated point in the advance of the web, cutting openings in said web portions, progressively chain stitching said portions together in the course of web advance and carrying such stitching across said openings, and subsequently severing the web of wrapping material substantially at the location of said openings, whereby each severed length of wrapping material will have a notch into which said stitching will project.

5. A wrapping method which includes the drawing of a wrapper about an article to be wrapped, bringing portions of said wrapper together, punching an aperture in said portions, and

chain stitching said portions across said aperture.

6. A wrapping method involving the application of a textile wrapper about an article to be wrapped, bringing portions of said wrapper together, stiffening said portions, punching an aperture in the stiffened portions, and sewing said portions together across said aperture.

7. A wrapping method involving the application of a textile wrapper about an article to be wrapped, bringing portions of said wrapper together, stiffening said portions, punching an aperture in the stifiened portions, and sewing said portions together across said aperture, followed by the subsequent severing of the wrapper across the aperture, whereby to expose the sewing therein.

8. A wrapping method which consists in advancing a web of wrapping material, introducing articles therein at stated intervals, bringing portions of the wrapping material together about said articles to encase the articles, stiffening said portions intermediate the encased artic1es,aperturing said portions where stiffened, and stitching said portions together across the stiifening and the apertures, and subsequently severing the wrapper to intersect the apertures and expose the stitching.

CURT G. JOA. 

